Last few weeks have been have been hunting an old plantation/farm that I got permission for last year. We hunted it one very hot scorching day last summer, found nothing and had all but written it off until I visited the owner a few weeks ago. He'd let me borrow a cannon ball (1 of 3 found somewhere on the farm before his time) for a talk I'd given to some local 3rd & 4th graders. After talking to him and walking around the farm discussing possibilities, I thought I'd take a few swings while I was there. With his help I think I've finally found the spot where early American settlers in the area would come by and set up camp/visit. So far I've found 38 Colonial to early 1800's buttons, a broken 1851 seated 1/2 dime, an 1834 capped bust 1/2 dime (in near perfect condition, can read all lettering!!), my first large cent (date unreadable but it is the 1816-1839 variety), a 1820-1840's US military coat button (minus the shank but still very kewl!), several small round ball (probably pistol) and a portion of a lead ingot (I think...), as well as a small floral brooch, a 1/2 of a "Tallio" cufflink with a tiny fox, and assorted whatnot. The heel plate is a nice one and was my first find on the site. The 1834 capped bust 1/2 dime was nearly 14 inches deep and I'd all but given up on it when I finally dug it out of the bottom. I was hunting with a 10x12 sef on my etrac. Fortunately there were no small bits of nail or trash in the hole and the ground is very mild, or I probably wouldn't have found it. The signal as iffy and was 50/50 whether it was a good target or falsing on iron. I couldn't see the screen on my etrac because it had long turned dark from direct sunlight and was digging all conductive signals. When I finally located it it was crusted with hard dirt so I packed it in cotton and waited until I got home to clean it (longest 30 minutes you can imagine...lol. I kept wondering if it was seated...or could it be a bust....). This coin is at one time my oldest and nicest silver, and my first whole half dime. The portion of an 1851 seated 1/2 dime was snapped in half and then I think the end was broken off later (hate to think it but possibly by myself....). It's my first seated anything so I sure wish it was whole but...I'll take it. Also looks like it may have been under a camp fire, the back side is burned. Unfortunately the corn in the field is close to being too high to hunt in so this may be it for the summer. Looking forward to getting back in there though. We're hoping the confederates were around someplace, no luck finding Johnny reb yet though.
HH all!

First I got to say I like the title of the post, so many (posts) leave no clue as to what was found I don't bother clicking on them.

I like the "flower" trinket, and some nice buttons.

Cufflink also is nice, and a scarce find.

Just curious if there is ANY possibility if the half dime fell from the side of the hole ? as 14" is a long way for a just over a gram of silver. BTW I'm not saying it didn't happen, but I'm also quite sure that very deep finds do come from the side of the hole SOMETIMES.

First I got to say I like the title of the post, so many (posts) leave no clue as to what was found I don't bother clicking on them.

I like the "flower" trinket, and some nice buttons.

Cufflink also is nice, and a scarce find.

Just curious if there is ANY possibility if the half dime fell from the side of the hole ? as 14" is a long way for a just over a gram of silver. BTW I'm not saying it didn't happen, but I'm also quite sure that very deep finds do come from the side of the hole SOMETIMES.

Well, that's what I would think normally but I kept scanning the sides and bottom with my pinpointer as I dug. The signal was always in the bottom, which is why I kept thinking that it was probably going to end up being a piece of deep rusty iron which is normally the case on this site. I suppose that it's possible the coin kept falling back into the bottom from my shovel but I've been digging some deep flat buttons on this field too. I run my etrac on manual sensitivity as far as I can get it to go (27 on this field), with high gain, low threshold, deep on, TTF with wide open screen (minus a small section at top and bottom for bits of nails), and I'm swinging a 10x12 sef which is a bit bigger than the stock coil. I regularly find targets with it at around 10 to 12 inches in regular, packed soil. This is a field that's been cultivated for about 200 years now and the dirt is very mild mineral wise, and very light & crumbly until you get 10 to 12 inches deep. The particular spot I found the 1/2 dime in there were no other signals, no bits of nails or trash interferring with the signal. BUT it could be that the coin was stuck to my shovel and fell back in the hole, was stuck on the side near the bottom and finally fell in, who knows. Heck, I could even be off an inch or two in my estimation of how deep the hole was. Let's just say it was in the 12 to 14 inch range, more than 10 and less than 20 (which is how deep I found a Milwaukee's Best can on the field a few days earlier!). I don't really care if it was 14 inches deep or 4, I'm just happy someone lost it back then and that I found it....lol. HH